1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for accelerating and diverting flat products conveyed within, for example, a folding apparatus of a printing press.
2. State of the Art
U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,713 discloses a diverter mechanism. A sheet diverter is provided in the path of a stream of cut sheets which are to be diverted in a predetermined sequence in different directions. The sheet diverter includes a pair of rotary diverters having cam surfaces thereon which direct and guide the sheets in the predetermined sequence relative to a pair of guiding surfaces.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,112 discloses a folding machine in a rotary press. The folding machine is of the type in which a printed paper web is twice-folded and then cut into folded sheets by means of cutter drums. The folded sheets are conveyed through a distributor section on a downstream side of the folding machine to a pair of ejected paper sheet runners while being pinched by belts, or tapes. A conveyor for conveying the folded sheets includes a pair of first conveyor belts between the outlet side of the cutter drums, and an upstream side of the distributor section, a pair of distributor belts which form the distributor section with a triangular guide disposed on the downstream side thereof, two pairs of second conveyor belts between the downstream side of the distributor section and the inlet sides of the pair of ejected paper sheet runners, and guide belts or fixed guide members extending between a location upstream of the distributor section and the inlet side of the distributor section and between the outlet side of the distributor section and a location downstream of the distributor section. These belt pairs define, respectively, independent closed routes. The pair of distributor belts are respectively provided with uneven portions along their length adapted to mesh with each other. Preferably, the pair of distributor belts run at a higher speed than the pair of first conveyor belts, and the two pairs of second conveyor belts run at a higher speed than the pair of distributor belts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,033 discloses a folder apparatus for a web-fed printing press. The folder apparatus includes a printed product delivery with two fan arrangements each of which is formed of a plurality of mutually adjacent fans spaced-apart from one another on a common axis, the respective common axis of each of the two fan arrangements being disposed parallel to the common axis of the other. Each of the fans of one of the fan arrangements is disposed adjacent to a respective common plane with a respective one of the fans of the other of the fan arrangements, each of the fans being formed with blades having tips located at a circumference of the respective fan, the circumferences of the fans and the respective common plane intersecting with one another. A device is provided on the fans for preventing a collision of respective blade tips of the fans disposed in the respective common plane.
A general disadvantage of the state of the art is that devices for accelerating and diverting flat products require a primary accelerating belt system, a diverting mechanism, a steeple (such as a triangular guide) and a secondary set of transport belts. Although there are untimed flat belts used for accelerating and transporting purposes, the foregoing patents disclose, with the exception of U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,033, to use timed, or synchronized, diverters in conjunction with sets of untimed high speed belts.